Half of city’s 800 fire hydrants rehabilitated
The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), in an effort to expand its services to the Guyanese population, says it has rehabilitated over 300 fire hydrants in Georgetown, to create greater access to adequate water supply for the fire
GWI says it has rehabilitated half of the city’s 800 fire hydrants.
service during emergencies.
Chief Executive Officer, (CEO), Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Dr. Richard Van West-Charles at the opening of a training workshop on Thursday for the company’s managers, said that the entity is committed to improving its services, and has since rehabilitated several fire hydrants.
He said there are approximately 800 hydrants in the city and, “we’re gradually discovering where they are, so there’s a process of rehabilitation,” Dr. Van West-Charles explained.
He pointed out that those efforts will extend across Guyana to allow the fire service to access water from new and refurbished fire hydrants.
“We have to work too with the Ministry of Communities’ housing department to ensure that as new communities emerge, part of that planning process is to ensure that hydrants are in the system, and that water is available in case of fire to protect the residents within the communities,” the CEO noted.
The GWI Head is urging residents to be responsible and to safeguard the fire hydrants in their communities against vandalism. He emphasised that often many of the fire hydrants in communities are destroyed by vagrants. He added that in areas where there are waterways instead of fire hydrants, care should be taken to ensure that these are cleaned regularly for the fire service to use for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Regional Manager, Georgetown, Curtis Niles noted that GWI is moving to rehabilitate fire hydrants in other areas outside of central Georgetown, including in Turkeyen and South Georgetown.
Niles said that GWI has placed fire hydrants at Agricola and in front of all GWI production centres, “so that the fire service would have easy access in the event that there is a fire in those areas.”
Niles pointed out that GWI is also working on a geographic information system (GIS) to track and identify the location of fire hydrants.
“We want to have those hydrants on the GIS so that the fire service would know and more of our population in Georgetown would know where our hydrants are, and we’re also working with the fire service, the government and other agencies, towards having critical areas equipped with fire hydrants,” Niles highlighted.